The invention relates to the field of preparing and shaping of doughs for cake and bread products.
Baked, boiled and fried cereal products, such as breads, bagels, pretzels, doughnuts, doughnut holes, and crullers have been enjoyed since before recorded history. With the advent of automation, the tasks of preparing and shaping of dough prior to cooking have been taken over by machines. A dough hopper is commonly used for automatically dispensing portions of dough, particularly doughnuts, either onto a tray or mould for subsequent baking, or into hot oil or boiling water for either frying or boiling. The dough hopper comprises a container for dough, with a hole, connected to a dough guiding tube for dispensing dough. Fitting into the hole, and the dough guiding tube, are pistons, which, upon rising and falling, pull dough into the dough guiding tube and alternately extrude and shear off portions dough, which drop from the hopper and may be cooked immediately or stored uncooked. Different piston-head s apes may be used, to vary the look of the product. To dispense a simple toroid-shaped doughnut, the piston heads are usually disc shaped. To dispense what is commonly called a French Cruller, the piston-heads have oblique flutes, and they are rotated with respect to one another, as they rise and fall, with the result that the portion of dough that is sheared off and dispensed has a fluted surface.
To satisfy consumer demand, it has been proposed, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,598 (to Abe et al), to dispense a doughnut comprising a plurality of doughs, by using a separator that divides the dough container and the dough guiding tube.
The separator comprises a boss arranged between a centrally located dough-dispensing piston rod and two peripherally located dough-dispensing piston rods.
In one aspect the invention provides a method of making a bread or cake product comprising two or more types of dough, wherein the doughs are dispensed through a dispensing hole of a dough hopper having a dough container, and dough dispensing pistons, the method comprising substantially preventing the two or more doughs from commingling in the dough container prior to dispensing; and dispensing the two or more doughs from the dough hopper.
In a second aspect, the invention provides a doughnut comprising two or more types of dough, the two or more types of dough being confined to substantially distinct areas of the doughnut.
In a third aspect, the invention provides an apparatus for use with a dough hopper, the dough hopper comprising a dough container, dough-dispensing pistons and a dough dispensing hole, whereby a bread or cake product comprising two or more types of dough may be dispensed, the apparatus comprising a partition for dividing the dough container into two or more chambers, each chamber being in communication with the dough dispensing hole.
In a fourth aspect, the invention provides a method of making doughnut or doughnut hole comprising two or more types of dough, the doughs being plastic in their uncooked state, the method comprising shaping each dough to a desired shape; attaching the doughs one-to-another to form a cohesive mass; and forming the cohesive mass into individual doughnuts or doughnut holes.
The method of the invention provides a bread or cake product having more than one kind of dough. An example would be a doughnut having chocolate and vanilla dough. The multi-dough product is produced by separating the different doughs in the dough container of the dough hopper, to prevent them from commingling, and then dispensing the doughs. The doughs are separated from each other by one or more partitions placed in the dough container. The partitions form different chambers in the dough container, each chamber being in communication with the hole through which the doughs are dispensed. The different doughs are each placed in separate chambers. With particularly viscous doughs, the partition may be removed after the doughs are placed in the container.
In a preferred embodiment, the partitions may be attached to a cylinder placed centrally in the dough container. The cylinder passes around the dough-dispensing piston rods, so that they operate as they would in the absence of the device of the invention.
Conventional doughnut hoppers use a piston assembly having two piston heads. The bottom piston head is connected to a single centrally located piston rod which passes through the top piston head. The top piston head is connected to two peripherally located piston rods which pass on either side of the single centrally located piston rod. The size of the piston heads and the corresponding dough-guiding tube substantially determine the size of the doughnut that is dispensed. Conventional doughnuts are usually less than about six inches in diameter, and in particular between about 4 and 1.5 inches in diameter. The clearance between the two peripherally located piston rods and the single centrally located piston rod is usually minimal. Therefore, it is preferred that the partition of the apparatus of the invention not pass between the single centrally located piston rod and a peripherally located piston rod.
The apparatus of the invention can be used with the pistons that are normally used with the dough hopper. If desired, the pistons may be changed to make, for example, toroid-shaped doughnuts or French crullers. The same apparatus can dispense doughnuts or crullers comprising more than one kind of dough, merely by changing the pistons, just as would be done in the absence of the apparatus of the invention.
The method and apparatus of the invention are particularly suited for conventional toroid-shaped doughnuts.
For best performance and an aesthetically pleasing product, the different doughs should have similar consistencies. If necessary, the consistency of each dough can be altered, for example, by adding water, or by adding flour.
The apparatus of the invention allows the dough hopper and pistons to be disassembled easily permitting access to all parts so that the pistons and the apparatus of the invention may be cleaned.
It is preferred that the partition be secured in place in the dough container, for example by screws or bolts. Butterfly screws or bolts permit easy installation and removal of the apparatus.
The partition can be provided by any member or partition that will split the dough container into chambers. The partition need not be straight, but can have, for example, a serpentine or round form, thereby splitting the dough container into wavy-sided or round-sided chambers, respectively. The chambers need not be equal in size. The chambers need not be sealed one from another, provided that one type of dough can not seep around unsealed edges and commingle with a dough of another type. The more liquid the dough, the tighter the seal at the sides of the chamber should be. The partition should not interfere with the conventional operation of the pistons. It does not pass through the piston head.
In a preferred embodiment, used to make two-coloured or two-flavoured doughnuts, the partition is provided by a sheet which is placed across the middle of the dough container attached to a cylinder located centrally in the dough container. The cylinder passes around the pistons, permitting them to operate as in the absence of the apparatus of the invention. The partition divides the dough container into two equal chambers, each chamber being in communication with the dispensing hole.
For particularly stiff or viscous doughs, the top of the hopper can be closed, and, compressed air may be pumped into the hopper, in order to push the dough into the pistons.
The invention will be further described with reference to the figures.
FIG. 1 shows an example of apparatus according to the invention.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a doughnut produced by the method of the invention.
FIG. 3 shows an example of a doughnut produced by the method of the invention.
FIG. 4 shows an example of a doughnut produced by the method of the invention.
FIG. 5 shows an example of an apparatus according to the invention.